Wood: The Latest Architecture and News

BIG has partnered with experimental clothing brand Vollebak to create the vision for a self-sufficient off-grid island in Nova Scotia, Canada. The 11-acre Vollebak Island will receive several pavilions built of natural and innovative materials such as seaweed, hempcrete, and 3D-printed concrete, all powered by carbon-neutral energy. The island, located in Jeddore Harbor, one quarter off the Nova Scotia mainland, will be auctioned via Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions beginning June 8. Bidders will vie for the chance to own the island and to be granted exclusive rights to the design vision, including the planning permission for those designs.

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Wood is the concrete of the future. As timber construction becomes increasingly popular, you have probably heard this phrase. However, we are not talking about traditional construction techniques using timber, but rather about this well-known material combined with cutting-edge technology.

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Solid wood, which has been used since prehistoric times and is still highly valued today, is extracted directly from trees without undergoing any lamination, pressing, or gluing processes. While it remains a universally used material in architecture, its widespread use has led to an increased demand and less efficient resource management. Therefore, solutions are being sought to optimize its use in production processes and reduce its consumption without losing its capabilities and characteristic beauty. To address issues such as warping, aging, and high environmental costs associated with solid wood, materials like Technowood have been developed. Combining technology and super-strength composites with natural wood veneers, Technowood maintains the beauty and characteristics of solid wood, but with greater durability and a sustainable approach, making it a suitable alternative.

As part of the Circlewood consortium, OMA’s David Gianotten and Michel den Otter have developed a modular system to build schools that can adapt and transform throughout their lifecycle. The system was selected by the City of Amsterdam to be employed to build multiple schools in the coming ten years, as part of the Innovation Partnership School Buildings program. The citywide initiative aims to build nine to thirty “high-quality, flexible, and sustainable” schools as a way to contribute to the city’s goal of becoming fully circular by 2050.

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In a conversation with Louisiana Channel, the founders of the international practice Helen & Hard Architects reaffirm their insistence on community and sustainability. The use of wood, in their practice, has become more than a building philosophy, it has turned into a philosophy. “Trees have a life of their own, and you feel a deep respect for the time it has taken to grow. We work with something alive, an organic material. We can’t do as we please with it. We must interact with the material.”

In August 2022, Siv Helene Stangeland and Reinhard Kropf, the founders of Helen & Hard, were interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner at various locations in and around Stavanger, Norway. The area holds special importance for the architects, whose approach was influenced by the culture that permeates Stavanger and the west coast of Norway.

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The Sámi National Theater Beaivváš and Sámi High School and Reindeer Husbandry School are two of the most important cultural institutions of Sápmi, a region in northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland traditionally inhabited by the Sámi people. To strengthen the position of the two institutions, a project was initiated in June 2021 to create a shared cultural and educational facility. A design proposal by 70°N arkitektur, in collaboration with Snøhetta and artist and architect Joar Nango, was chosen following a competition. The building, also known as Čoarvemátta, is currently under construction and is expected to be completed by 2024.

In an effort to address the architecture industry’s environmental impact, Henning Larsen is presenting the “Changing Our Footprint” exhibition at Aedes Architecture Forum in Berlin. The event features the small but scalable steps that the office is taking to move towards a more desirable future through the projects they are designing and the research they are conducting. The exhibition aims to be an engaging event, inviting visitors to participate in the dialogue, to think critically about the proposed solutions and initiatives, and to ask difficult questions in the search for better outcomes. The exhibition is open until March 22, 2023. Henning Larsen will also host a series of panel debates at the Aedes Architecture Forum from February 22 to March 14.

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Everyone who has ever built anything—a model, a birdhouse, or small pieces of furniture—has a clear sense of the amount of things that can go wrong during the construction process. A screw that is impossible to tighten fully, a warped wooden board, an inattention or a miscalculation that can frustrate plans instantly. When we transport these small inconveniences to a building scale, with countless processes and many different people involved, we know how complex a work can become and how many things can get out of control, taking more and more time and requiring more and more resources to finish. And when we talk about a building that needs to float, be completely self-sufficient, and, after fulfilling its useful life, be completely reused—could you imagine the technical challenges of building something like this?

Designed by architects Tomás Villalón, Nicolás Norero, and Leonardo Quinteros, the Educational Theater of the Arts of Panguipulli has been chosen in Chile as the winning work in the architecture category of ESENCIALES x ArchDaily 2022.

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Denver-based architecture office Tres Birds announced that Denver’s tallest mass timber building is planned to break ground in July 2023. The 12-story building named “Return to Form” will be located in the River North Arts District in Denver, US. Its structural system uses mass timber, a new technology that utilizes small-diameter trees from sustainably managed forests. Through continuous planting and responsible harvesting, these forests are becoming a source of renewable and low-impact building materials. The mass timber structure is comprised of wood panels that are glued and laminated together. This provides not only strength and stability but also fire resistance.

Contrary to what some people mistakenly say, half-timber is not a style, but a building technique. Brought to Brazil by German immigrants, it was used mainly in regions of Espírito Santo, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. The technique has now become a strong attraction for tourists. But after all, what defines it?